Comida Mexicana! (Food in Mexico)

Let's start with the most important thing: eggs are about $1 for 15. They come in cartons of 15 or 30, and in the market (the weekly tanguis) I can consistently find them for around $1. If I'm lazy and just go to the grocery store that's closest to me I may pay closer to $1.50 - $1.75.  For 15. And yeah, they're fine.

Just this week I had the best tamale I've ever had - and I've had a lot of tamales over the years. These I get from a street vendor at the bottom of the hill on the main drag. Tamales are tricky. They can be too dry, have too much masa/not enough filling (or vice versa), etc. But these (Rico's Tamales!) are tasty, just the right texture, just the right mix of masa/filling, etc.  Score! $1 each and they're good size.

Not too surprisingly, I have also eaten a shit ton of tacos since I've been here. While I have an early "favorite" on the main drag, there are other spots - LOTS - all around with good tacos, from street vendors to small diners to restaurants. The best I've ever had? Probably not, but then I have had a LOT of tacos in my life from a lot of places and - oddly enough - the best I can remember were from a street vendor/taco truck in.......Zurich, of all places.

I am waiting to see if I will tire of Mexican food - I'm guessing no, since I love it so much. But after we were here about a week, and had already had many Mexican meals, I broke down and took DJ to get pizza but on the way, all I could think was, "Wah! I'm in the mood for Mexican!" lol  Have also eaten a lot of tostadas. Everywhere sells the crispy tostada tortillas and there's multiple good local brands of refried beans in a variety of flavors. 

After the tamale, the best thing I've had here was something not necessarily "Mexican," but I would have never thought to make in the states. Since they use limes so much here (to the point where there is actually a lime press included in the cutlery in this airbnb place), I bought a bag at the tanguis ($1 for one kilo - 2.2 pounds). That's a lot of limes, so I decided to make fresh limeade.  Then, I hit on the notion of blending some limeade with frozen strawberries and good gawd almighty, that was some awesome shit that I have since had again and again. It helps that the strawberries were so good - and I spent about $1.50 for a kilo.  Potatoes are about $1 - $1.25 for one kilo, Mandarins the same.  I got a full quart of fresh blueberries for $2. Tomatoes about $1 - $1.50 for one kilo. And so on.

I do wash produce well, but have scaled back from the heavy duty "treatment" I was initially doing after being frightened into it by my friend David. He insisted - and was validated online in a few places - that I need to give all produce a "disinfectant bath" and/or a bath in vinegar and water.  So I did that the first couple of times. Then got lazy and just scrubbed produce with a sponge dipped in vinegar. Finally, I asked the expats downstairs what they do, and they said they just wash/scrub them good with the "good" tap water we have up here on the hill, so now I do that. Not dead yet! (knock on wood)

In the grocery stores, selection is pretty good - and you can get all kinds of American stuff (shudder) if you wanna pay a little more and/or shop at specialty stores.  Mexico requires products to have labels on the front/top if said product has excess calories, or sugar, or salt, or saturated fats. Makes it easier to pass it up.

There's nothing I haven't yet been able to find that I want/need, and in fact they have  things that aren't available in the U.S. - or hard to find anymore. Like Fresca! I never did like Fresca as a kid, but I love it after rediscovering it somwehre abroad some years ago. DJ had never had it before, but is now a fan.  I've already discussed Mexican Coke, and we can even find Dr. Pepper here w/o too much trouble - including a flavor I've never seen in the states: "Dark Berry" Dr Pepper that i had to try.....and, well, it wasn't BAD, but....meh.

Some things are actually pricier than in the states for some reason (e.g., pasta sauce), and pizza, while cheaper in general, is pretty closely priced to the good deals you can get in the states with so many options.  Milk is cheaper, and you can actually buy it in a 3-pack of 1-qt plastic bag/pouches which is convenienft for us coz we don't use it a lot and can freeze 2 of the 3 bags until needed. Cheese is a little pricey, unless you wait for a sale.

I made my first homemade salsa and it was amazing, and also just made a huge vat of black bean chili for the first time. Good stuff. If by some chance I do end up in Mexico for retirement, FOOD wll be a major reason why!

Fun facts about Mexico!

Part of why I picked Chapala to check out is the weather. Most of Mexico is just too hot for me to consider for retirement.  But Chapala is one of the few areas listed for "nice weather year round" in Mexico.  Apparently, the hottest month here is in May and the rest is pretty pleasant.

I had actually hoped to start our adventure sooner, but the adoption delay meant we started here in May. And it was indeed hot for most of the month - low to mid 90s for the high pretty much every day. BUT it's dry heat, which helps. BUT it also has bright UV intense days, which isn't so great.  So far, June has indeed been cooler with highs in the lower 80s.

If I end up really liking it, I suppose I could spend the month of May elsewhere, but the goal is to land somewhere where I don't HAVE to escape for however long. But while we're waiting out the summer, here are some fun facts I learned about Mexico from a  little booklet in the "Lake Chapala Society" expat group HQ "downtown:"

1) Not only is Mexico home to the world's largest pyramid - the Great Pyramid of Cholula - but it also has more pyramids than Egypt. Cholula (AKA Tlachihualtepetl, or 'constructed mountain') is actually shorter than Giza, but much wider and larger in square feet.

2) As you may know, Mexico is the birthplace of chocolate!  The Olmecs and Mayan used it to make beverages.

3) Mexico City is sinking, with some buildings sinking up to 4-20(!) nches per year. Those clever conquistadores drained Lake Texcoco to expand the city originally built on the lake's islands.

4) Too bad it's sinking, coz Mexico City has the 2nd most museums in the world.

5) There are 69 recognized/"official" languages in Mexico! 

6) A Mexican engineer, Guillermo Gonzalez Camarena, invented color TV.

7) Mexico is home to the 2nd largest coal reef in the world. The Great Mayan Reef actually stretches from Mexico down through Belize, Guatemala, and down to Honduras - well over 500 miles.

8) Mexico is home to the oldest university in North America: The Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico predates Harvard by 80 years, although AI will still say Harvard is older.  Tell me again how AI isn't corrupted by the information/propaganda it's fed.

9) Per capita, Mexico drinks more Coca-Cola than any other country. And yes, Mexican Coke is still better.

10) Mexico is home to the Americas first printing press - established in Mexico City in 1539, about 100 years before the first one arrived in Boston.

11) Mexico is home to the world's most volcanoes - including the smallest (Cuexcomate is only 43 feet high).

12) Las Colorados in the Yucatan has pink lakes! It's not "natural" but rather due to a high concentration of red and pink algae, plankton, and brine shrimp.  If it wasn't so far, I'd love to go see them!

13) Technically, the country is called The United States of Mexico.